Poll shows 43% back 'change bloc' in forming new government

A new Channel 13 poll released on Thursday shows that 43 percent of the Israeli public is supportive of a Bennett-Lapid "change bloc" that would see Yamina leader Naftali Bennett enter a rotation agreement with Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party. 

Only a third of respondents said that they would prefer a Bennett-Netanyahu government, while the remainder said they didn’t have an opinion.

Yamina party voters, however, weren't as enthusiastic, with 24% saying that they would support a coalition agreement where Bennett would serve two years as prime minister, while Lapid would serve the remaining two years. 

Over half say they prefer Bennett to join with Netanyahu, while a quarter opposes both options.

The poll also found that if new elections were held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party would shed two seats, dropping from 30 mandates to 28. Yesh Atid, on the other hand, would jump to 21 seats and Yamina would become the third-largest party with 11 seats.

The poll shows that the ultra-Orthodox factions of Shas and United Torah Judaism would earn seven seats, respectively, along with the center-left Labor party.

Blue and White, led by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, would remain at eight, while both New Hope and the Arab-Israeli-led Joint List faction would retain their current strength at six seats apiece, according to Channel 13.   

The secular right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, led by Avigdor Liberman, the Religious Zionism faction, and the left-wing Meretz party would all stand at five mandates, respectively.

The Islamist Ra’am party, touted as the last election's kingmaker, was forecast to again win four seats.

Some 60% of all respondents said, however, that the most likely outcome is another round of elections, marking a fifth round to the polls in just over two years. The poll surveyed 669 respondents and had a 3.8% margin of error.